


Bird Bones

by Mashtar



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, because it deserves it, essentially a reimagining of the Liam romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-10 09:00:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mashtar/pseuds/Mashtar
Summary: Everyone joined the Initiative for a reason; some went to find glory, some to find peace, some for the thrill of adventure. Kit Ryder didn't know why she went, but when called, she answered. She didn't join for something as intangible as hope, or faith, or wonder. She was content to find her own path, exploring whatever fate found fit to give her. And then fate showed up with Liam Kosta.





	1. Whatever is passing is passing me by

**1 Week Before Departure**

Kit Ryder sat down on the edge of the roof, a beer bottle in one hand. Her bleached hair was down, drifting gently in the breeze. She looked out over the city below her, lights reflected in her dark eyes.

“Did this place ever feel like home to you?”

She craned her neck to look back at Keefe Ryder. He was standing just behind her, holding a beer of his own.

“Not really. Nowhere felt like home after Mom died.”

He nodded and took a swig. “Like she took it with her when she left.”

She looked back out at the sprawling London cityscape, stretched out below them. They were on the roof of an apartment building, a massive highrise lit up in the night.

Keefe sat down next to her, looking up at the sky. “You ready for this?” He asked.

She laughed. “No. Are you?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Never.”

Silence fell between them for a moment.

“We’re never gonna see this place again,” Kit said. She gazed down at the city, watching traffic as it wound through the streets. “So much life, and we’re leaving it behind.”

“Will you miss it?” Keefe asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. Will you?”

He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. It’s funny, I always felt small, like I was one of so many people that I couldn’t possibly matter. But now-” He stopped, jaw tightening. He stared at the bottle in his hands, eyes shining.

“We’re stepping into a universe so much bigger than us, so huge we can’t even comprehend it, and now you’ve never felt smaller?” She said. He nodded and she smiled softly, leaning against him, shoulder resting against his. Comfortable, warm, familiar. “We’ll be okay. If our family is good at anything, it’s staring improbability in the face and proving it wrong. We’re going to sail off into deep space and find a new home.”

“Improbable,” Keefe said, smiling, almost sad.

“But not impossible,” She finished the quote for him, their mother’s voice echoing in her head. She took a sip of her beer, feeling a shiver of excitement race through her as she stared at the stars.

**20 Minutes After Revival**

The noises of the locker room were indistinct around her. Her head was bowed, resting on clenched fists, eyes closed. Everyone had their own suit-up routines, hers looked as normal as any other. Some people kissed old pictures, some people knocked on their lockers for luck, some people - like Keefe, she thought - drank an entire energy drink and listened to obnoxiously loud music.

Her heart twinged at the thought of her brother. He was somewhere back in the cryo bay, unconscious, unaware. Every single part of her wanted to go back there, to hold his hand and make sure he was okay.

They’d been apart before, of course. He’d been stationed on Arcturus, she’d been hopping around the galaxy with researchers, digging around in Prothean ruins.

But they’d never been apart like this. It’d never felt so terrifyingly, horribly permanent. Not like this.

It wasn’t permanent. She knew that. The doctors had told her.

But that didn’t stop the seizing feeling in her chest, the aching emptiness, as if a part of her had been left somewhere far behind.

She sucked in a breath and stood up, grabbing her helmet. Someone had music playing, a few members of the team talking quietly as they prepared. Cora was waiting by the door for her, fiddling with her shotgun, flipping through maintenance procedures with a studied ease.

Somewhere else on the station, her dad was getting ready. She almost envied him. He must be so excited to finally be here, to be leading the first expedition into Andromeda. He probably wasn’t even worried about Keefe, not really. Alec Ryder had a kind of unshakable faith in his concept of the universe, in how it worked, in what he decided was true. He refused to accept any alternative. If he’d decided that Keefe was going to be fine, that was what he would believe, and there’d be no room to doubt.

Kit stood up, helmet tucked under one arm. She squared her shoulders, finding her center and holding fast to it. She would continue on, even alone. It’s what Keefe would want; she did him no good sitting at his bedside moping, not when there was a galaxy to explore.

She joined Cora by the door. “Ready to go?” The older woman asked. She had a few inches on Kit, glancing down at her past the ash blonde hair hanging in one eye. Kit nodded, rotating her arms. She could feel muscles stretching, loosening as her body warmed up. The beginning of adrenaline skittered along her fingertips, a familiar tingle, like biotics, but warmer.

“I wonder if this is what it felt like to be the first person who walked on Earth’s moon,” she mused.

“What, terrified?” Cora asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

“Well, yeah, but excited, too. We’re about to go somewhere no human being has ever gone before. How many people can say the same?”

She smiled a little. “That’s true. Gotta say, hope’s a little harder to hold onto after our rough wake-up call.”

Kit clapped Cora on the shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. “It’d be a boring adventure if everything just went according to plan, wouldn’t it?” She grinned, slipping past Cora and out the door. “Let’s go, we’ve been snoozing for six hundred years, no time to waste!”

She jogged down the stark white hallway, toward the shuttle bay, Cora’s footsteps echoing behind her. The air was cool and still, only a few people passing as she went. Everyone was still asleep, thousands of people locked in dreamless slumber. It hadn’t felt like sleeping. One second, she’d been standing in her pod, watching Keefe settle into his across from her. Her dad had been there, looking at her with his dark, inscrutable eyes. She’d waved goodbye.

Then, she was waking up. Her pod was gone, the dry air of the Hyperion stale in her mouth.

She couldn’t walk at first, the doctors had helped her off of the table and into the med bay, an arm slung around each of their shoulders. She’d waited there, shivering, brain sluggish, as if it, too, had to get used to being awake after so long.

The doors to the shuttle bay slid open and she entered the large room. There, beyond the mass effect field, was space. The blackness of it was absolute, and it stole her breath away, the way it did every time.

She slowed to a walk, crossing over toward the two shuttles that were being prepared. Cora caught up with her as she stopped in front one of the shuttles. Harry Carlyle, one of the Hyperion’s doctors, was loading medical kits onto the shuttle. Kit stopped next to him, arms crossed over her chest.

“Hey, Doc, what’re you doing here? Is Dad expecting trouble?” She asked.

“Something like that,” Carlyle muttered as he hefted a red box, a medical cross painted on the side. “He said he wants a medic to come along just in case. Precautions and all that.”

Kit shrugged at Cora. “He’s always been paranoid, I guess.”

“Not without good reason,” Cora replied, shooting Kit a chastising look.

Kit shot her a skeptical grin, not remotely cowed by her superior’s disapproval.

“Hey, Ryder!” A voice called from the doorway. She turned and waved at Fisher, one of the shuttle pilots. He was grinning. “You ready to pay up on that bet you made?”

“Fuck off, Fisher,” she called in response, laughing.

“Don’t be a sore loser, kid,” he said, bumping into her shoulder cheerfully as he passed.

Cora was frowning. “What bet?”

Kit rolled her eyes as Fisher laughed. “Fisher’s an ass. He bet me the mission would go bottoms up in the first ten minutes. I bet him he’s wrong.”

“I’m a hopeful sort,” Fisher drawled.

Kirkland, one of the other team members, snorted. He had appeared alongside Greer; they were standing nearby, checking their weapons before takeoff. “And you’re a shit liar, too,” he said.

Kit laughed, slightly more at ease among her teammates. She didn’t know any of them well, hadn’t even met all of them yet, but they seemed like a solid group. They might not be friends yet, but she’d bet that they’d bond just fine, given time.

Carlyle appeared at the open shuttle door. He was speaking to someone hidden out of sight in the shuttle. “Just put it down there, next to the others,” he was saying.

“Got it,” an unfamiliar voice responded. It was male, with a recognizable London accent, and Kit perked up. Whoever it was, it had to be the sixth member of the Pathfinder team, the one she hadn’t met yet.

The person appeared in the shuttle door. He leaned against the frame, meeting her gaze with a bright grin. He was tall, dark-skinned, clad in standard Initiative armor, with wiry, curly hair. She returned his grin with one of her own.

“Hey,” she said, stepping up to him. “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Kit.”

He took the hand she offered, shaking it firmly. “Liam. Nice to meet you. You, uh… you the boss’ kid?” He asked.

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. I’m one half of the Ryder twins. The better half.”

“No doubt,” he said, smile widening.

She could practically feel Cora’s disapproving glare at the back of her head, so she took a step back, but her grin never wavered. “Ready for an adventure, Liam?”

He nodded, hopping down from the shuttle. “Been waiting six hundred years, damn right I’m ready.”

Kit turned to Cora with an unabashed smile. “See, Cora? Gotta get more excited, man. We’re making history.”

Cora glanced up from her omnitool with an unimpressed look. “Alright, hotshot,” she said.

“Keep that excitement, we’ll need it, wherever we’re going.” Alec Ryder appeared at the doors to the shuttle bay, announcing his presence with only his voice. A hush immediately fell over the group, a respectful silence that was close enough to reverence that it made Kit uncomfortable.

Cora, in particular, straightened up, hands folded behind her back. The image of professionalism. Kit made a face, stepping up toward her father.

“Dad-” she started, stopping when he held up a hand. He shot her a quick look, a “in a second” look.

“We don’t know what we’re going to find down here,” he said, stepping past her. Gritting her teeth, she turned, watching him as he walked toward the group assembled in front of the shuttles. They were watching him with wide eyes, even Fisher, his casual attitude abandoned.

“Our mission is to figure out what the hell is going on. Scanners aren’t giving us accurate readings, whatever we ran into out there is messing up our tech. We need to go down there and assess the situation ourselves. This isn’t training any more, I expect the entire Pathfinder team to be top notch out there. I know what you’re capable of, that’s why I handpicked each of you. Now it’s your job to prove to me that I was right.”

'Except me and Keefe,' Kit thought, a little bitterly. _'Fuck knows why you picked us. As I recall, you’ve never thought we were worth much of anything.'_

Alec glanced back at her then, meeting her eyes. There was worry there, buried beneath the layers of professional heroism. “Let’s go make the Milky Way proud,” he said, addressing the group once more before turning back and walking to her.

“Dad,” she said as he approached. “Keefe…”

“I know,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. He suddenly looked very tired, weary, older than he was. “He’ll be okay. He’s strong.”

“What if he’s not?” She asked, narrowing her eyes up at him. “This isn’t about him being strong, it’s a medically induced coma because of a technical malfunction during the revival process. We can’t ‘blind faith’ our way out of this one.”

He sighed, eyes dropping from hers. “Blind faith is all we have right now, Kit. I’m count on you out there,” he said. As he spoke, he slipped into a familiar tone, the level, controlled voice of authority that dominated her childhood memories of him. “You may not have the combat experience of the others but you have the raw potential that many lack. You’re talented and creative, use that to your advantage.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Still trying to teach me after all these years, Dad? Come on,” she brushed past him, grazing his shoulder as she went. She tossed a grin over her shoulder. “One of these days I’ll have something to teach you, instead.”

The shuttle doors were open, and she climbed into the second one. Kirkland and Greer were already inside, sitting down nearby. Fisher was fiddling in the pilot’s seat, checking comms, and Liam was standing on the other side of the door from where she was.

He jerked his head at her as she stepped into the shuttle. “Everything alright?” He asked.

She blinked, taken aback. “Huh? Oh, that?” She pointed from her to her father. “Yeah, it’s fine. We Ryders aren’t great at communication, you’ll learn that pretty fast.”

“So it’s normal to look like you’re arguing?” He asked, grinning.

She laughed. “Yeah. Arguing is how we talk most of the time. Sometimes we just have heated conversations. Other times it’s screaming matches. You know, the usual.”

“Right. Totally normal and healthy.” He chuckled.

“Hey, shut up back there,” Fisher said over the comms, his voice staticy in her ear. “Buckle up, kids, it’s time for liftoff.”

Kit grabbed hold of the handle above the shuttle door and watched as they slid closed. Beyond the window, she could see Cora following her father into the other shuttle. Alec looked back at her shuttle over his shoulder and, seized by a sudden impulse, Kit pressed her hand against the glass of the window. He probably wouldn’t even know it was her, if he noticed it at all, but she held it there until he turned his back and his shuttle door slid shut.

_'Stay safe,'_ she thought, hoping that somehow he’d hear and understand. For all she fought with her father, that stubborn love still held strong. Through everything, no one had stood beside them other than each other; Alec, Keefe, and Kit were the only people they had left, each of them.

The shuttle engine roared to life, a dull roar behind her. She held on as it lifted off the ground and began to glide out of the hangar, slipping past the mass effect field and into space.

Out here, six hundred years away from the lights of the Milky Way, the stars were impossibly bright. They were everywhere, littered carelessly across the black abyss of space. Then, curling through it all like a cancerous growth, was a twisting mass of dark yellow-ish energy.

It held the Hyperion in its clawing tendrils, the ship ground to a halt within its grasp. The sight of it sent a chill down her spine. It was unnatural, wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be there.

The shuttle shook as they traveled through a patch of the dark energy, the turbulence making her readjust her grip, holding tight to the handle above her. There was chattering over the comms, a tense back-and-forth between Fisher and Hayes, the pilot on her father’s shuttle. She tried to pay attention, but her eyes were drawn inexorably to the planet looming in the window.

They hit the atmosphere, the air burning past the window, and she leaned closer, nearly pressed to the glass in an attempt to see. Liam was beside her, peering as intently as she was. They were standing shoulder-to-shoulder when the fire cleared and the planet came into view.

Enormous mountains soared into the sky, grey and almost geometric in appearance, as if it had been built by a mathematician, not nature. Clouds rippled with electricity, hanging everywhere around them, above, below, and around, cloaking the mountains in shifting fog.

“Oh, wow,” Kit breathed, awestruck.

“Yeah,” Liam echoed.

Another tremor rocked the shuttle and Fisher’s voice came over the comms, high-pitched and panicked.

“Electromagnetic strike! It’s busted our nav systems!”

“Get it working!” Kirland was yelling. “We can’t fly blind out here!”

Kit tore her eyes from the alien landscape and looked up to Liam, her fear dulled behind the wonder of discovery.

He smiled at her, opened his mouth to speak, and then a final tremor shook through the shuttle and the door tore away.

Liam was gone, sucked out into the sky almost as quickly as Kit was.

One second, she was standing in the shuttle, her hand tight on the handle that held her steady. Then, she was gone, ripped free, out into open air.

She screamed.


	2. You and I in the grave's eclipse

She hit the ground rolling, jets sputtering in a valiant attempt to slow her fall. The ground felt like cement when she slammed into it, the breath knocked out of her body instantly.

The sky pinwheeled above her as she tumbled down the mountainside, yelping in pain each time a rock jabbed into her side. SAM was silent, his absence palpable as she finally came to a stop at the base of the cliff.

Breathing hard, body aching in more places than seemed possible, she just laid there. There was a crack in her helmet, oxygen leaking out into the atmosphere. As her chest tightened, constricting around the breathable air in her suit, she reached up, omnitool alight. A quick scan and a simple fabrication and the leak was mended, the glass perfectly smooth, as if it’d never been broken in the first place.

She let her arm fall back to the ground, groaning loudly. _‘When this is over, I’m giving Fisher every goddamn credit I have,’_ she thought miserably. Above her, the sky was thick with clouds, the ominous crack of lightning lancing through them.

It took an immense feat of willpower to haul herself to her knees, and an even greater one to get to her feet. She limped toward the edge of the cliff she stood on, tapping her omnitool. It flickered, barely responsive.

“SAM? Dad? Is anyone out there? Hyperion, if you can hear me, Shuttle Two is down. We were hit by lightning on the way down. This is Kit Ryder, I’ve been separated from the rest of the team.” She looked around, surveying the desolate landscape. “I have no fucking idea where I am.”

A rustling sound came from behind her and she whirled, hand flying to her pistol. Acutely aware of the sheer cliff at her back, she waited with her heart in her throat, watching the oddly-colored mushrooms in front of her for any sign of movement.

“It’s me! It’s me, don’t shoot!” Liam toppled out of the foliage, arms raised. His Initiative armor looked a little battered in places, but he seemed otherwise unharmed.

“Fuck.” The expletive came out almost like a sigh of relief and Kit jammed her pistol back into its holster, hurrying over to him. He took her hand and she pulled him to his feet, patting him on the shoulder. “Are you okay?” She asked.

He nodded. “I’m good. You?”

“I’ve been worse.” She released his hand and looked out over the sprawling, mountainous landscape before them. “What the hell is this place?”

“It’s no dream world, that’s for sure,” Liam muttered.

She sighed, feeling a sudden weariness sweep over her. “I can’t reach anyone on comms, and my connection to SAM is down. What now?”

“Find the shuttle, I guess? Or whatever’s left of it,” Liam said, grimacing behind the glass face of his helmet.

She nodded and flicked on the scanner on her omnitool. An amber light lit up in front of her and she began scanning the nearby plants. Liam followed her as she wound along the narrow path, scanning everything they passed.

“These plants are all messed up,” she said absently, frowning at the readings on her scanner. Liam appeared at her shoulder, squinting at her omnitool. “Look,” she said, pointing at the readouts. “See? The chemical composition makes no sense. There shouldn’t even be anything that can grow here.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know anything about plants. But they’re growing here, somehow.” Liam shrugged at her. “There’s gotta be some explanation.”

“There better be,” she said, looking around. “For all of this.”

Liam nodded, mouth a hard line of unease. He pressed ahead, taking point while she trailed along behind him, scanner roving over everything. There was a strange energy emanating from deeper in the planet, somewhere beneath the surface, but her scanner couldn’t make sense of it. Everything about the planet confused her tech; whatever this place was, they hadn’t been prepared for it.

“So, Ryder, what’s your thing?” Liam asked absently, pulling her attention back to the present.

“What do you mean?” She scanned a nearby mushroom, nearly as tall as she was and glowing a brilliant, electric blue.

“You know, what are you about? What are you good at?” Liam paused as he leapt up a tall ledge, his jumpjets propelling him into the air. He landed on the edge and turned, offering a hand to help her up. “Why’d you get picked for the team, other than being the Pathfinder’s kid, of course.”

She jumped up beside him, taking his hand and letting him pull her onto the ledge. “Are you implying my natural charm and good looks wasn’t enough to earn me a spot?” She shot him a look of mock offense.

He grinned. “I think there might be some regs preventing me from commenting on that.”

She smirked, eying him with renewed curiosity. His helmet obscured most of his features, but he was still handsome in a boyish, charming kind of way. “There are no regs in Andromeda,” she said, slipping past him with a dazzling smile. “No boundaries in a galaxy with no laws.”

“Sounds dangerous,” he said, following her up the path.

She scoffed. “Sounds fun.”

“It that your thing, then? You’re the bad girl?” He asked.

She paused, scanning another nearby plant. “Hardly. I was assigned to an Alliance peacekeeping corps, I went all over the Milky Way with a team of researchers. We’d dig up Prothean ruins, look for artifacts, study whatever we found.” She shrugged, turning away from the plant when her scan produced nothing of interest.

“So you’re a nerd?” Liam asked.

She turned to face him, planting her hands on her hips. “So what if I am?”

He raised his hands. “No offense meant. I’m just trying to figure you out.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“What d’you mean?” He sounded confused.

“Well, don’t you think you can learn more about someone by just watching how they act?”

He shrugged. “Sure, you can learn about someone that way but that doesn’t really tell you what their history is.”

She considered him thoughtfully. “Tell you what, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know after this mess is over.”

He raised an eyebrow with a grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll even buy you a beer and we’ll make it fun.” She grinned at him.

He laughed. “Looking forward to it.” Then, he pointed up the mountain path. “After you, recon specialist.”

She resumed their trek, clambering up a tall cliff-face. “What, did you read my personnel file? What’s the point in the questions, then?”

“Reading a file doesn’t mean you know a person,” he replied. “It’s not first-hand experience. After all, don’t you think you can learn more about someone by just watching how they act?” He winked at her when she tossed a playful glare over her shoulder.

She snorted, shaking her head. “You’re trouble, Kosta.”

“Takes one to know one.”

She laughed and took a running leap at a cliff, her jumpjets boosting her high enough to grab the edge of the sheer granite mountainside. With a grunt of effort, she pulled herself to the top. The path they’d been following disappeared into a cave further ahead, the entrance half-hidden behind the glowing orange fronds of what might have been ferns. Or at least what passed for ferns on this planet. The plants here were bizarre, twisted and strange, as if they’d been pulled from a psychedelic dreamscape.

Liam joined her at the top of the cliff, following her as she passed under the ceiling of the cave. The path wound inward, under the lip of an enormous mountain. Here, the air was cooler, stilling buzzing with the faint electric charge that seemed to linger everywhere. Liam ducked into the cave behind her, reaching up to turn on the flashlight on his armor until she raised a hand to stop him.

There was a noise from deeper in the cave, a shuffling sound, metal scraping across earth. She held a finger to her lips and pulled her pistol from its holster at her hip. Flipping the safety off, she crept forward, knees bent and footsteps quiet.

She clung to the rocky outcroppings that lined the walls of the cave, the bioluminescent foliage providing just enough light to see by. The path continued on for a while before it dropped away, opening onto a shallow valley. The roof of the cave curved upward and opened up to the dismal sky, the clouds roiling endlessly above. There, in the middle of the rocky clearing, sat the smoking remains of the shuttle.

Kit settled against the cover of a rock wall, peering past it at the shuttle. Liam was at her back, his assault rifle at the ready. There were a few fires in the debris, probably mechanical fires started by the crash. Scrap metal was scattered everywhere in twisted, gnarled heaps. The shuttle wasn’t going to be flying any time soon, she knew that immediately.

“Liam, look,” she breathed, staring down at the wreckage. There were two figures moving through it, poking among the broken metal. They looked almost humanoid, but taller, their skulls larger, wider than a normal human. They were wearing armor, the bulk of it filling out their bony alien frames, making them look nearly human, but the skin of their heads - if it was even skin at all - was flared, bony protrusions warping their visage into something entirely unfamiliar.

Her breath caught in her throat, excitement and trepidation stuttering in the beat of her heart. “What are they?” She wondered aloud, voice hushed, an awed whisper.

Liam nudged her shoulder, pointing with his rifle. “It’s Fisher,” he murmured.

She followed his gaze to a dark spot behind a clump of rocks, and as she squinted into the darkness, she could pick out a familiar form. Fisher was there, sitting with his back against the rocks, pistol gripped in one white-knuckled hand. One of his legs was extended in front of him at an awkward angle, too uncomfortable to be natural.

“Don’t shoot unless threatened, right?” She asked, glancing at Liam over her shoulder. He was watching the aliens move in the valley, his jaw clenched.

“If they hurt Fisher-”

“They won’t,” she cut him off, her voice firm. “We won’t let them.”

He met her eyes, then nodded, hands tightening around his gun. “I got your back.”

She sucked in a breath and shoved her pistol back into its holster. She stood up, raising her hands. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered, stepping out from behind the rock.

One of the aliens was nearing Fisher’s hiding spot, sifting through the shuttle scrap with the end of its gun. Kit’s heart was hammering in her chest as she approached, a strained, panicky feeling twisting through her veins.

She could feel Liam’s eyes on her as she went, and the thought was somehow comforting, knowing that some million-and-a-half lightyears away from home she still had a good gun at her back. Among the total absurdity of this entire situation, that was the thought that kept her moving forward, arms up and the prickling feeling of her own terrifying mortality clawing at her throat.

“Hi,” she started, voice cracking. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Um, hello? Hi, aliens. Hello. We’re friends, please don’t kill us.” She kept her voice quiet, afraid that it would shake if she spoke any louder. The closest alien, the one nearing Fisher, twitched, whirling to face her with its gun aimed squarely at her head.

She offered it a shaky little wave, adrenaline racing through her system. It was making her hands shake and she took a deep breath, staring at the barrel of the gun. “Oh, man. Hey, buddy. How’s it going? Having a good day, I hope.”

She continued to edge closer, keeping her hands well away from her pistol. Fisher, through a face screwed up in pain, was shooting her an incredulous, terrified look. She tried to send him her best reassuring smile, but it was a tiny, uncertain thing. He didn’t look remotely comforted.

The alien sized her up, its eyes large and unreadable in its strange, bony face. It started barking at her in an unfamiliar language, the sounds harsh, grating against her ears. It was unintelligible, but she’d been in enough fights to recognize aggression when she saw it. This thing, whatever it was, wasn’t pointing its gun at her in a friendly manner.

The second alien, summoned by the shouting of its comrade, leveled a second gun at her. Through all the fear and hazy adrenaline coursing through her brain, Kit felt something familiar shift into place, an instinct drilled into her after years of training at the hands of a former N7 operative.

As the aliens began to advance, she called over her shoulder to Liam, “Hope you’ve got good aim.”

There was a ripple around her as she finished speaking, a roll of dark purple energy. It advanced toward the aliens like a tidal wave, knocking them off balance when it hit. Kit rolled to the side as a hail of bullets erupted from behind her.

She slammed into cover behind a rock, grabbing her pistol. She aimed and fired off a shot as the aliens ducked behind their own cover. Fisher was desperately trying to pull himself to safety, shooting an angry look their way as he ducked gunfire.

The aliens returned fire, peppering the rock Kit was hiding behind. She winced, dodging shrapnel as shards of rock shattered around her head. Gritting her teeth, she risked a quick look past her cover. One of the aliens was visible, and with a clenched fist she threw another whirling knot of biotic energy at it.

The energy curved around the boulder the alien was hiding behind and with a strangled shout of surprise, the alien was lifted off its feet. She smirked. No translator needed for that.

It drifted into the air, suspended helplessly as Kit took aim. Her bullets thudded into the hard bone of its face and its eyes went dark, dead before it hit the ground.

The other alien swiftly joined it, its body littered with bullets.

“Fisher!” Kit called, easing out from behind her boulder once the hail of gunfire stopped. “You okay?”

She stumbled over to him, nearly tripping over loose rocks. Fisher was pale-faced and sweating, holding his leg with a pained expression.

“You two took your sweet time,” he said when she knelt beside him. “Thought I was left for dead out here.”

She laughed; it was an adrenaline-rattled, shaky sound. “Had to make an entrance,” she said breathlessly. “You know how it is. Only get to make first contact once, better make it good.”

“Yeah, I think it went really well,” Liam said, jogging up behind her. He turned to the alien corpses. “Look at these things. What are they?”

“The friendliest neighbors ever?” She suggested. Turning back to Fisher, she asked, “Can you stand?”

He shook his head. “Leg’s broken. Leave me here, go find Kirkland and Greer. They went looking for the other shuttle.”

Kit glanced at Liam unhappily. “What do you think?” She asked him.

“I don’t like leaving him here, but if there are more of these guys around then Kirkland and Greer might run into trouble, too,” he said, nudging one of the alien bodies with the toe of his boot.

She sighed and nodded. “You’re right. Come on, Fisher, let’s move you somewhere a little less out in the open.” She grabbed Fisher’s free arm, tugging it around her shoulders. Liam moved to help, taking Fisher’s other arm and helping to pull him to his feet. Fisher grunted in pain, face ashy beneath his helmet. He leaned heavily on them, though Liam took most of the weight. Next to him, Kit was tiny, but Fisher’s arm was tight around her shoulders, so she stumbled along with them, holding tight to his hand.

They half-carried Fisher to a different, larger cluster of boulders, tucking him into the shadows by the wall. He gave them a tense nod, pistol resting in his lap.

“If I see anything, I’ll signal you on comms,” he said. “Good luck.”

Kit gave him a parting wave, worry curling in the pit of her stomach. She turned, following Liam out of the cave. They picked their way over the twisted piles of metal, the remnants of Shuttle Two scattered across the ground, peeled apart like tissue paper.

“He’ll be okay,” Liam said after a long, silent minute. They cleared the edge of the cave, emerging into a deep canyon. The mountainous walls rose around them, steep and dark grey, alight with the crackling blue glow of the lightning in the clouds overhead.

She nodded, glancing over her shoulder at the darkness of the cave behind them. “I hope so.”

“Hey,” Liam stopped, facing her. “We’ll all be okay. We have to believe that.”

She frowned up at him, jaw clenched. “This was supposed to be our new home. It was supposed to be a paradise. Even if we survive this, how can any of us be okay?”

“We’ll find a way,” he said, unwavering. “We have to.”

She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. Above them, the sky rumbled; Kit could almost smell the ozone, as if it could somehow seep through the protection of her suit.

She readjusted her grip on the pistol in her hand, trying once more to find her center, that steady place in her heart where there was no room for doubt or fear. “Improbable,” she said. “But not impossible.”

It was a mantra, a hymn, a dare to the universe. She started walking, eyes trained in front, the thudding of her heart roaring in her ears.


	3. Into the dangerous world I leapt

“They killed Kirkland!” Liam was saying, voice raised. An alien corpse was in front of him, smoking bulletholes littering its body.

Kit pressed a hand to Liam’s chest, not quite pushing, but almost. “Come on,” she muttered, glaring into the distance, refusing to look down at the alien bodies slumped on the ground around them.

Cora fixed Liam with a stern look. “We can’t afford to lose our heads right now,” she said. “We need all the ammo we can get.”

Liam made a noise of disgust and turned, firing a final three shots into the alien’s head. “This place is fucked,” he said, voice tight with anger.

He moved away and Kit let her hand fall. “We need to go pick up Fisher and Greer,” she said, turning to Cora.

“We need to find your dad first,” the older woman said.

“Dad can handle himself. Fisher’s injured and if more aliens show up Greer can’t protect both of them on his own. They need our help,” Kit said, gesturing over the mountains with one hand. The other was holding a sniper rifle, the barrel resting on the ground.

“We’re the Pathfinder team,” Cora retorted. “We don’t leave our Pathfinder.”

Kit’s jaw jutted forward stubbornly and she glowered at Cora for a long minute. Finally, she flipped her omnitool on without another word. “SAM? Got anything?” She asked.

“The storm is still interfering with the signal, but I’ve managed to locate your father,” the AI replied. The screen of her omnitool flickered and her father’s helmeted face swam into view through a field of static.

“Dad, are you okay?” She asked, hating the way her throat started to close up over the words, fear burning in her chest.

“I’m fine,” he said. For a second, Kit let her eyes close, letting herself have a tiny sigh of relief.

She opened her eyes again, pushing the moment away. “Fisher and Greer are at the wreckage of our shuttle, they need extraction. And Hayes got hit, Dr. Carlyle says he can keep her stable for a while but we need to get them out of here.”

Alec nodded, his gaze trained toward something she couldn’t see. “It’s too risky to send for extraction with the storm still overhead,” he said.

“Dad, we have to. We’re gonna die out here!”

“No one’s going to die,” he said firmly. Kit’s stomach twisted and she met Liam’s gaze. He looked miserable, eyes darker than the clouds above them. _‘Too late,’_ she thought.

“I think I might have a way to get rid of the storm,” Alec continued. “I need you and Harper here, quickly.”

“We’ll leave immediately,” Cora said, loud enough for Alec to hear.

“Good. I’ll send you my location. Don’t waste any time,” he said before severing the call.

SAM pinged over the comms. “I have the navpoint Alec provided. He is nearby, but the storm appears to be worsening. I would suggest moving quickly.”

Liam strode over. “I’m coming with you.”

“We need you to stay here and guard Dr. Carlyle and Hayes,” Cora said.

Kit ignored her. She nodded at Liam. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on,” Cora said quickly. “I’m in charge here, you don’t get to overrule me like that.”

Kit rounded on her. “I’m going to go help my dad, I don’t care about your chain of command. If Liam wants to come, let him. We need all the help we can get. You can think that over, I’m leaving.”

Cora opened her mouth to protest but Kit was already gone, taking a running jump off the plateau. Liam followed without hesitation, and after a moment, so did Cora.

Kit raced through the ravines, scrambling through fields of lightning bolts. Every nerve felt like it was on fire, her body buzzing. There was a fevered urgency to her, a recklessness in the way she vaulted across the depthless canyons in her path. Liam kept pace with her easily, Cora trailing just behind.

The comms were silent. Words weren’t needed now. Whatever happened, talking came later, after all the chips had fallen. Now, it was a race to reach her father before the chips hit the floor.

Her jumpjet propelled her to the top of a rockface; she landed in a skid of loose gravel, dropping to a crouch beside Alec Ryder’s familiar form. He was kneeling behind an outcropping in the mountain, surveying the valley beyond. Kit eyed the singe marks on his black armor, the N7 logo smudged with dirt.

He gave her a nod of acknowledgment when she landed beside him. She reached up and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Liam and Cora crested the cliff behind her and she let go of her father, hand dropping quickly.

Before them rose an enormous alien structure, the same glossy black metal they’d seen all over the planet. It was old, older than the construction that surrounded it. Around it was a base of sorts, similar to the research station she and Liam had found earlier. It was built of a different material than the strange black tower, and newer, too. Kit guessed that the aliens they’d encountered were responsible for the newer buildings, and the black metal structures came from before them, though there were no indications of who might have built them.

“See that tower?” Alec asked, pointing at it. “It’s producing some kind of energy, I think it’s interacting with the storm in space and creating the storm here. If we can get to the tower and shut it down somehow, I’m betting the storm disperses.”

“How do we get to it?” Kit asked. She pulled the sniper rifle off her back and peered down the sight, scanning the field. Aliens roamed around, guns out, but they seemed unaware of their presence.

“I’ve been working on that.” Alec turned to face them now, meeting each of their gazes. “I’m going to bring the shield down and after that it’s gonna get ugly. We’re going straight in, a full frontal assault. We need to get to that tower as fast as we can. I need to know you can all keep up.”

Kit nodded immediately, mouth set in a grim line. “We’re with you.”

“Just lead the way, sir,” Cora agreed.

Liam was silent, but he was a steady presence at Kit’s back. Alec nodded and pulled up him omnitool. The amber glow lit his face, and for a brief moment he looked so much like Keefe - her twin, unconscious and alone back on the Hyperion - that Kit wanted to cry. They had the same dark, almond-shaped eyes, the same strong jaw, the same stubborn chin.

As Alec turned away from her, she sent a silent plea out to the universe, _‘Please, let us be okay. I can’t lose any more family.’_

An explosion rocked the base below them. The shield flickered twice, then died.

Alec vaulted out of cover and they were off, sprinting across the open field. There was a moment where nothing happened, the aliens reeling from the shock of the explosion. Then, the bullets started flying. Kit ducked beneath them, slipping into cover with her rifle in hand.

Liam ran past her, head low. She leaned out of cover and sighted, aimed, and fired. There was a satisfying scream from one of the aliens above in the base, and she took off running again.

Biotics flared nearby, familiar purplish energy rippling around Cora’s body. Kit watched as she jumped out from behind a crate, slamming her fist into the ground. Biotic energy convulsed, booming like a concussive shot, and three aliens went flying.

Somewhere in the back of her mind - whatever part wasn’t running on pure adrenaline - Kit was vaguely impressed. The rest of her was focused on running, racing up a set of stairs and into the dark interior of the base.

An alien lunged at her before her eyes could adjust, slamming its gun into the visor of her helmet. The glass held but Kit yelped in surprise. She stumbled back, hitting the wall with a thud.

She screwed her eyes shut on instinct as her head slammed back into the wall; through the dull pain, she was screaming at herself to move, to pull up her gun, to duck, to do something. Liam yelled from somewhere nearby and she forced her eyes open just as he came hurtling at the alien in front of her. His omnitool was up, a wicked blade of amber light curving out from his gauntlets. It sliced into the alien’s head, splitting its skull like a hot knife through butter.

Kit retched at the sight, reeling away. Liam’s omnitool flickered off and he grabbed the back of her chestpiece, pushing her forward. Her feet moved automatically, her mind too scrambled to do anything but keep pressing on.

They ducked out of the bunker; Kit squinted in the light that flared in her eyes. Ahead, she could see Alec, moving faster than seemed possible. He gunned down aliens as he went, urgent but not panicked. He kept up a stream of communication in her ear, directing them as they went. His words didn’t even register, but the sound of his voice, muffled, low, steady, was comforting. It reminded her of her childhood, listening to him talk to her mother late at night, bent over his worktable, the low rumble of his voice lulling her to sleep in the next room.

Something exploded just past her head and she flinched, cursing rapidly under her breath. She nearly threw her sniper rifle away in her haste to stow it on her back, grasping for her pistol just as another alien emerged from cover in front of her.

She and Liam fired in sync, peppering its body with bullets before it could raise its gun. Kit hurtled over the crate it’d been hiding behind, feet nearly slipping in a pool of tacky greenish blood.

They were circling around to the tower now, and up close it was absolutely massive. The surface was smooth, flawless, so dark that she could hardly pick out the variations in the metal.

Alec set a brutal pace, plowing through the alien forces without pausing to make sure they were still with him. Cora was keeping up better than Kit, and Liam stayed with her, moving beside her through the field of bodies her father left behind. They finished picking off the stragglers and finally caught up, finding Alec standing before a wide door.

“SAM, can you decrypt the language?” He was asking, his omnitool open. He didn’t even look winded. His eyes flickered up to meet hers; there was a question there, and she nodded, breathless. He appeared satisfied, his gaze leaving hers and moving back to the door in front of him. He looked at it like it was a puzzle to be solved, the same way he looked at anything that got in his way.

Kit slid to the ground nearby, back against a short wall of black metal that was jutting out of the ground. She pulled her rifle off of her back again, peeking over the top of her cover and looking down the sight. There was movement at the bottom of the ramp in front of her.

“They’re regrouping,” she announced. An alien head came into view and she squeezed the trigger. There was a distant thudding sound and a spray of brain matter. She winced.

“Harper, hold the left,” Alec instructed. “Kosta, move up and hold the right ramp. Kit, stay up top and keep them off of him.”

“Good luck,” Kit murmured as Liam passed her. He shot a weary grin back at her.

She watched through her sight as he hunkered down behind cover halfway down the ramp, his assault rifle ready. For a few minutes, there was silence. In the absence of gunfire, everything seemed to echo hollowly, the wind that swept through the canyons buffeting against Kit’s suit. She was on edge, fingers tingling with impatience and nerves. Alec was talking to SAM behind her, working through the process of decrypting the code for the tower door.

Finally, the aliens started to advance. They sent their cloaking beasts first, little more than snarling mouths and a flicker in the air. There was a ripple in the air in front of her and Kit thrust her hand forward, biotics flaring. The wraith howled and its cloaking faltered, its body fading into sight as it drifted, suspended by her biotics. It floated over the wide platform and over the open air of the canyon beyond until the biotics finally faded and it plummeted to the ground far below.

Kit had already turned back to her gun, aiming at the aliens who were advancing along the platform above the ramp. She picked them off one by one, her focus honed to a point. The world around her was cacophonous, the noise of guns and screams everywhere. She was momentarily grateful that all she could smell was the filtered air of her suit; the sight of blood and bits of viscera smeared across the ground was bad enough without having to smell it, too.

To her left, the door to the tower hissed and started to open.

“Kit!” Alec yelled.

She spun, running to him without question. He was braced against the door, pulling at it, but it wouldn’t budge. She grabbed the bottom of the door beside him, pulling with all her strength.

Nothing happened. Her arms trembled. She could hear her father pleading quietly, as if he could coax it open through force of will alone.

Then, it slipped, opening with a quick, jerking movement. Kit nearly fell forward, toppling into the dark space beside Alec. He was moving forward intently, scanning the interior of the tower with his omnitool.

Kit paused, looking back over her shoulder at their teammates. Alec was advancing, lights flickering to life inside the tower as he walked. She watched, staring up into the impenetrable blackness with her mouth open, a silent expression of wonder.

Alec stopped, waiting for her. “Come on,” he said. “This is what it’s all about.”

She took one halting step forward, then another, then jogged to catch up. Her head moved like it was on a swivel, trying to look at everything all at once.

“Wow,” she breathed, stepping closer to one of the lines of greenish light that trailed up the wall of the tower. “This is amazing.”

“Almost makes it worth it, huh? The discovery,” Alec said. He looked at her with the shadow of a smile, and for a second, Kit saw a vision of a person unfamiliar to her, an Alec Ryder who was not the father who’d barely spoken to his children, a man who’d loved his wife as he should have, who’d dedicated his life to a family he had, instead of to a dream he wanted to attain. This Alec Ryder was still a dreamer, but he was human, enchanted by the unknown of it all, reveling in this moment, in the joy of exploration.

She returned the smile. “Yeah, it does. This is why we came.”

He nodded. “Come on, let’s explore.”

She followed him further along the dark path, into the heart of the tower. There, like it was waiting for them, was a triangular pedestal, standing alone in the middle of the otherwise featureless room.

“SAM?” Alec asked.

“Decrypting now,” SAM chimed in over their comms. The pedestal began to glow with a soft green light as Alec held his hand over it, the screen of his omnitool shifting as SAM worked.

A moment passed before something in the tower made an audible click and, with a low rumble, the pedestal began to sink into the floor. Alec stepped back, standing next to Kit. They waited, staring into the darkness uncertainly.

It started small, a bright blue glow that seemed to emanate from nowhere. It grew in the center of the room, a strange triangular shape that swelled until it loomed over them, bathing them in light.

Alec hummed, a quiet note of curiosity, and raised his hand. His omnitool lit up, a series of amber points appearing as he accessed whatever was in front of them. The points connected like a miniature constellation around his hand, and Kit was momentarily taken aback by the beauty of it.

_‘He was right. This really is what it’s all about,’_ she thought. _‘This is what being a Pathfinder is.’_

Blue and amber light played over her features, her eyes - so similar to her father, her brother - shining.

Then, with a rattling boom, a beam of pure light shot out of the symbol in front of them. It climbed up, straight to the top of the tower. Alec lowered his hand, grabbing her shoulder as he turned.

“Did it work?” She asked, letting him pull her back toward the entrance.

“Let’s go find out,” he said. That smile still lingered on his face, like a memory of someone he used to be.

Her chest tightened, a curious, almost painful feeling, and she bumped into him gently. “Thanks for bringing me, Dad.”

He shot her a look that was almost surprised. “It was your choice to come along,” he said, but there was a roughness to his voice, something that was nearly fondness.

“You let me come, though. You could’ve said no.”

He actually chuckled at that. “You never would’ve forgiven me if I hadn’t let you come. You’re your mother’s daughter.”

She laughed, that tight, painful feeling blossoming in her chest as they stepped out of the tower. Overhead, the clouds were already beginning to clear, sunlight beaming down on the twisted planet.

Kit turned her face up toward the sun, closing her eyes against the light. She laughed, turning in place. “You did it!”

When she opened her eyes, Alec was watching her. He looked the closest to content she’d ever seen him.

“I know this isn’t what we expected to find,” he said. “But we can make a future out of it.”

She nodded, smiling. “Yeah, we can. We can make a home, even if it’s not this planet, or the next. We can do it.”

Alec met her gaze and slowly, like a heavy fog lifting, he returned her smile. It was uncertain, unsteady, something built on unstable ground. But it was a start, and that was all she needed.

A breeze gathered, rushing past her, and she looked out at the sunlit canyon.

She didn’t see it coming.

When the blast hit, a wall of force that came flying out of the tower, she had her back to it, caught up in a moment of happiness, standing at the edge of hope. She went flying, hitting the hard floor of the platform with enough force to knock the wind from her lungs.

Her fingers scrabbled for purchase but found none. The blast dragged her back, toward the edge of the platform and over it.

She fell, the sound of her father screaming her name echoing in her ears.


	4. And time does this to us

**6 Hours After**

Consciousness came rushing back like a tidal wave, slamming her into a body that _ached_.

She choked, eyes flying open. Coughs wracked her chest and she rolled over, sucking in air as if she hadn’t breathed in years.

“Hey! You’re awake.”

She sat up, groaning as her body protested painfully to movement. She looked up to find Liam Kosta sitting next to her. He scrambled to his feet and leaned over her, pressing a comforting hand to her shoulder when she tried to stand.

“Whoa, maybe don’t try standing just yet. Should take it easy, yeah? You’ve been out for a while. Weren’t sure you’d come back,” he admitted with a nervous little laugh.

She blinked, the world swimming before her. It came into focus slowly; the glowing lights of SAM Node were around her and she was sitting on a metal slab, a table of some kind that had been left there.

“What happened?” She asked finally. Her voice rasped in her throat, a raw, torn feeling, as if she’d been screaming for a very long time.

Liam hesitated, shifting awkwardly. “Uh… you fell. The tower, whatever your dad did to it, it worked. But there was some kind of reaction. You, and your dad, you sort of… went over.”

She frowned, blinking as her mind struggled to catch up. “Went over? What… where is he? Where’s my dad?” She looked around again, searching the shadows of the room like she might find him there.

Liam’s mouth snapped shut, a terrible sadness in his eyes. She looked at him and felt a sudden pressure, the weight of something enormous crushing her chest. Her breath came out in a rush, eyes burning.

Her hands gripped the edges of the table she was sitting on, knuckles white. “No,” was all she said.

She shook her head, scrubbing at her eyes with the heel of one hand. “No. Where is he?”

Liam wouldn’t look at her. She stood up, grabbing the front of his shirt. “You’re lying. It’s not true. He’s fine. He’s okay, right? If this is some sick joke, it’s not funny. Just tell me, okay? Tell me he’s okay.” She shook him weakly and his face crumpled, misery in every line of his body. “Please. Tell me he’s okay.”

One hand came up, resting on her arm. Not pushing away, not pulling closer. Just touching, a connection. To steady her or himself, Kit didn’t know. “Your helmet broke in the fall. The atmosphere’s not breathable. He gave you his, to make sure you made it.”

Kit shook her head violently, pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle the sob that escaped.

“Kit…” Liam’s hand tightened, moved to pull her closer, but she backed away, pulling out of reach. She leaned against a cool metal pillar, tears streaming down her face. “Kit, I’m sorry.”

The door opened and Liam started. Kit wasn’t looking, but she heard him hurry over to whoever had entered. His voice was muffled, low so she couldn’t hear, but she didn’t care.

She could see Alec in her mind’s eye, leaning over his worktable with a nine-year-old version of herself. His arms were around her, guiding her hands, teaching her how to fix a broken omnitool. His voice was quiet in her ear, she was giggling, hair still dark, the same color as his. Mom was there somewhere, her voice coming from a different room. Keefe was watching them work, eyes alight and a smile on his face.

She blinked, and it was gone. She was cold and alone, crying in a quiet room.

“Ryder.” Cora’s voice wrenched her from her memories. Kit stared up at her, feeling very tiny, impossible fragile, like her skin was made of glass. “Kit, I’m so sorry. Your father was a good man.” Cora looked heartbroken and tired, her normally pristine hair a mess, brushed from her face by restless hands.

When she spoke next, Cora’s voice wavered, tears lingering at the edges of it. “He’d want us to keep going. He always said that we should draw our strength from our darkest moments, that we shouldn’t let them destroy us. He’d want us to find hope somehow.”

Kit barked an incredulous laugh, half-way to a sob. “Hope? Are you serious? You saw that planet. You saw that thing out in space. How are we supposed to have any hope? We don’t have a home and now we don’t have a Pathfinder and I don’t have a dad! Everything is fucked.”

“We do,” Liam said quietly. His eyes were apologetic when he looked at her. “We do have a Pathfinder.”

Kit waited for him to explain, looking between him and Cora. Cora grit her teeth, but nodded slowly, looking back to Kit.

“What?” She asked, panic rising rapidly in her chest. “No, no way. Not me. I’m not a Pathfinder. Dad was a Pathfinder! And if it’s not him, it’s you!” She pointed at Cora, who sighed heavily.

“He made you Pathfinder before he died,” she said, a strange finality in her tone.

Kit laughed again, nausea pitching and rolling through her stomach. “He wouldn’t do that. Why would he do that? That doesn’t make any sense. It has to be wrong.”

“It’s not wrong. SAM was there, he finalized the transfer of authority two hours ago,” Cora said, her voice studiously calm, no trace of emotion in her words. It was so similar to her father that Kit felt something in her heart break.

“She’s right,” SAM said, his voice ringing out from everywhere around them. He sounded sad, the most melancholy Kit had ever heard an AI sound before. “Before he died, Alec Ryder passed the role of Pathfinder onto his daughter, Katherine Ryder, effective immediately.”

She sniffled, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. “What the fuck. Why? What is this? I’m not a Pathfinder, I’m not trained for this! What am I supposed to do?” She looked at Liam and Cora, but their faces were blank, as clueless as she felt. She groaned aloud and pressed her hands to her eyes, the crushing weight of hopelessness bearing down on her.

A tense silence fell, broken only by Kit’s occasional sniffling. Finally, Cora spoke.

“We can have a discussion about what to do after this, but later. Right now, you need to get ready to arrive at the Nexus.”

Liam raised a hand in protest. “Hold on, she just woke up. She almost died! She needs to rest!”

Cora shot him a look and he fell silent, but his arms were planted on his hips and his gaze was steady.

“She has two hours,” Cora relented. “Use it however you want,” she said to Kit as she turned on her heel and marched out the door.

Kit watched her go, and when the door slid shut behind her it was like the final bar of a cage slamming shut. She looked up at Liam. “Thanks for looking out for me,” she said, her voice tired and hollow-sounding. “I guess I’ll just… do something. I don’t know.”

He watched her, frowning, worried. “I know this is hard, and I’m sorry,” he said slowly, like he was picking his words very carefully. “If you need anything, I’m here, okay? Even if you just want to talk. I’ve got you.”

She nodded, shooting him the best smile she could muster. “Thanks, Liam.”

He nodded, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder before turning to leave. “Oh, yeah,” he said, pausing mid-step. “I checked on your brother while you were out. No change yet, but the doc’s say he’ll be okay. They said he’s strong, like your dad. Like you. Guess it runs in the family.” He gave her a reassuring smile, and then he left.

The door slid shut behind him, and Kit was alone. She sat down on the table she’d been lying on, resting her head in her hands.

“SAM?” She called. The spiraling hologram in the center of the room spun to life, its glow illuminating her in gentle blue light.

“Yes, Kit?” SAM responded.

She took a deep, shaky breath. “What does this mean, SAM? For me? For everything?”

There was a pause. “You are the Pathfinder now. It is your job to explore the Heleus Cluster and to find a suitable homeworld for the humans aboard the Hyperion Ark.”

“I know that, SAM.” Kit sighed in frustration, running a hand through her hair. It was down, hanging loose in her face, the bleach-blonde tips glowing blue in the light. “But how do I do that? How do I do any of it?”

SAM paused again, his hologram spinning as he considered the question. “I shared a link with Alec for a long time,” he said eventually. “It allowed me some insight into his mental state and his thought process. However, your father was the type of person who was always certain of what he was doing. He did things because he believed they were the right thing to do.”

“Is that why he made me Pathfinder?” She asked. “Because he thought it was the right thing to do?”

“I do not know. I do know that he trusted you, and he believed in you. It’s possible that he thought you were the person best suited for the job. Or perhaps he always meant for you to become Pathfinder eventually.”

“Dad always had to have his secrets,” Kit muttered. “Too many of them.”

“Speaking of secrets, there is something that you should know. As you know, Alec designed me. I was formatted to provide direct assistance to the Pathfinder; all of my counterparts on the other Arks are programmed to do that same. I, however, am slightly different.”

Kit fixed him with a tired frown. “Different how?”

“Your father continued to evolve my programming following my installation. I am more advanced than any of the other SAMs. Part of this evolution included giving me full access to the Pathfinder’s physiology. I possess a level of control over your body and its chemistry that is thus-far unheard of in AI technology.”

“What does that mean, SAM?” Kit asked, alarm rising in her voice.

“Alec designed me to have the ability to utilize a number of different abilities to aid you in the field. He called them ‘profiles.’ These profiles are intended to augment your strengths and allow you to switch between them at will. It allows for great utility and versatility in combat situations. However, Alec decided to keep the existence of my advanced nature a secret. He feared that public perception would be… mixed.”

Kit released a heavy breath, puffing out her cheeks. “Right. His interest in AI research had already gotten him dishonorably discharged from the Alliance, it makes sense he’d want to keep this secret. People are afraid of AI, they probably wouldn’t react well to a human and an AI being integrated on such a level.”

“Correct,” SAM said. He paused again, almost as if he was uncertain of how to proceed. “Of course, given that you are the Pathfinder now, I am integrated with you on the same level I was with Alec.”

She nodded slowly. “Can you read my thoughts? Feel what I feel? Control my body? Anything like that?”

“Not precisely. I cannot read your mind, your thoughts are your own. However, being connected to you does allow me to experience what you experience, and I can interpret your emotional reactions to events as they happen around you. This does allow me greater insight into your thoughts, but it is a product of my own subjective interpretation, not part of my programming. And I cannot directly control your body; I can manipulate the biochemical reactions within your body in order to produce certain results, but you are not ‘under my control’ in any sense.”

“Right. Good, that’s good.” Kit sat up straighter, eying SAM curiously. “Any other secrets you wanna share?”

“Not at the moment,” SAM said.

She smiled despite herself and stood up. “Great. I guess I’ll go. Once more into the breach and all that.”

“Yes.”

She turned to go, making it to the door before she stopped. “Hey, SAM? I’m sorry… about Dad.”

SAM’s hologram whirled, an oscillating collection of blue light, scraps of programming flickering through his form. “As am I. You are taking his passing hard. It may be a comfort to know that you are not alone.”

She blinked quickly, past the prickling of fresh tears in her eyes. “Yeah. Thanks, SAM.”

She left, making the long, lonely walk back to the med bay.

**8 Hours After**

The Nexus was dark. The Hyperion’s door was open and Kit stood silhouetted in its light, staring into the dark docking bay of the Nexus.

Cora appeared at her shoulder. “Where is everyone?” she wondered.

“Maybe they just forgot to turn the lights on?” Kit suggested.

“Hopefully it’s that. Or they’re throwing us a surprise party,” Liam said, wandering up alongside them. “I’ll bet they’re hiding behind… all those construction crates… right now.” He shot Kit a worried look.

She shrugged at him before turning back to the dark docking bay. She took the first step off of the Hyperion, stepping onto the level ground of the Nexus. “Hello? Anyone home?” She called.

There was no answer, just the faint echo of her own voice ringing in the empty corridors. “This isn’t right,” Cora muttered. “There are supposed to be thousands of people here. And the station, it’s not even built. Did you see outside, when we were flying in?”

Kit nodded. She’d been on the bridge of the Hyperion when they’d pulled in to dock. The Nexus had looked like a half-built skeleton floating in space, bare scaffolding backlit by the light of a blue sun. That had been the first indication that something was wrong.

Now, it was all Kit could do to keep walking forward, pushing past the mounting sense of dread weighing in her stomach. She could hear Cora and Liam following her, their footsteps unnaturally loud against the oppressive silence.

She stopped in front of the blue hologram of an asari woman; Avina smiled at her placidly, the VI waiting patiently for interaction.

Kit cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um, hello?”

“Greeting, traveler!” Avina’s voice was overly loud, aggressively cheerful. Kit jumped, startled. “Welcome to the Nexus,” Avina continued, “the future hub of government in the Andromeda galaxy! I am Avina, your helpful VI companion. I am tasked with assisting you in navigating the Nexus as best I can. Please let me know how I can help!”

“Can you turn the lights on?” Liam murmured quietly, standing just behind Kit.

“I’m sorry, I do not understand the request. Please repeat it or select from a list of pre-programmed questions,” Avina said. Her blank stare looked right through Kit, smile permanently fixed in place. It was unnerving.

Kit shook her head. “I’ve always hated these things,” she said. “They’re all over the Citadel. And they’re never helpful.”

Cora snorted. “How long has the Nexus been in the Heleus Cluster?” She asked, raising her voice as if it would help Avina better understand.

“The Nexus arrived in the Heleus Cluster approximately [ERROR: INVALID INPUT COMMAND]. Please contact a maintenance supervisor for further instructions.”

Kit’s eyebrows shot up, and she traded an uncertain look with Cora. “That’s not normal,” she said.

“Really?” Cora deadpanned, voice very dry.

Kit almost smiled. “Look at that, Liam, she understands sarcasm.”

“It’s a miracle,” Liam said. Cora shot him a look and he quickly raised his hands in surrender, backpedaling with a chuckle.

Cora huffed, blowing her hair out of her face, her cheeks slightly pink. “Of course I do. How do you think I managed to survive with your dad for so long?”

The ache in Kit’s chest twinged sharply at mention of her father, but she shook it off with an airy laugh. “Please, my dad, sarcastic? He was a lot of things, witty wasn’t one of them.”

“You’d be surprised,” Cora said quietly, her eyes growing distant.

Kit frowned, trying not to feel the pang of hurt. She caught Liam’s gaze; he was watching her, a careful curiosity in his warm eyes. He smiled at her, and it was an expression so full of understanding that she had to look away, blinking quickly past the burning in her eyes.

He clapped a hand to her shoulder, pushing her along gently. “I’m still not seeing any welcome party,” he said, raising his voice as he yelled, “Hello? Anyone home? We’re here to save you all!”

Kit laughed a little; it felt strange, like she didn’t deserve to laugh, like she shouldn’t find something funny, not after everything that had happened. “Don’t get their hopes up,” she said, smile fading.

Liam’s hand tightened on her shoulder, and he leaned close enough so only she could hear. “You got this, Ryder. You’ll be fine. Just don’t let them see you scared.”

She sucked in a deep breath, swallowing hard. “Right. Be fearless.”

“Be fearless. I’ve got your back.” He gave her shoulder another squeeze before letting go, following her deeper into the darkness of the docking bay.

It was slow going. There were crates everywhere, still sealed, shipping labels slapped on the sides. Cables ran everywhere, crisscrossing over the floor. It was as if people had been in the middle of construction when they’d just up and walked away, leaving everything where it was.

There was something eerie about it, in the things people left behind, cloaked in darkness and silence.

They picked their way through the maze-like path as it wound through the crates stacked everywhere. Finally, Kit rounded a corner and nearly tripped over a person. They were alive, kneeling in front of an electrical console. They were wearing an Initiative uniform and a workman’s hat, a light attached to the front of it; it was on, illuminating the console as they worked.

Kit cursed as she came to an abrupt stop, stumbling when Liam bumped into her from behind. The man squeaked in surprise, jumping to his feet and whirling to face them.

Hand raised against the blinding light from his hat, Kit squinted at him, trying to make out his features past the light beaming in their faces. “Hey, someone’s alive,” she said, relieved. “What’s going on around here? We docked and no one’s around.”

“And your mood lighting sucks,” Liam added.

The man blinked at them, mouth hanging open in shock. Kit frowned, glancing back at Liam uncertainly. Cora rounded the corner behind them, nearly smacking face-first into Liam’s back. She peered past him, squinting in the light.

“You found someone?” She asked. Then, after a pause, “Is he okay? He seems a bit… not responsive.”

“Maybe something went wrong and the Nexus arrived hundreds of years before us and the humans here have evolved to exist in total darkness and they forgot how to speak so now they’re all mute?” Kit suggested. She shrugged when Cora and Liam fixed her with looks of disbelief. “It’s just a theory,” she said.

“I like how your first instinct is, ‘they’re obviously all mute,’” Liam said, grinning. He shook his head. “You’ve got some imagination, Ryder.”

“Ryder?” The man in front of them started, lunging toward her before Cora and Liam both grabbed an arm and hauled her backward. They closed the gap in front of her, forming a wall between her and the man. He stared at them, agape. “Ryder, like the Pathfinder? Are you from an Ark?” He asked, looking at them like he’d seen a ghost.

“We’re from the Hyperion Ark,” Kit said, standing on her toes in order to see past Cora and Liam. She wedged herself between them, wriggling through.

“You’re the Pathfinder?” The man asked, fixing her with a gaze that bordered on desperation.

She hesitated, feeling the eyes of her teammates on her. “Yeah,” she said finally. “I’m Kit Ryder, I’m the human Pathfinder.”

“Holy shit,” the man breathed, awestruck. Kit shifted, suddenly acutely uncomfortable. “I can’t believe you guys actually made it. They’re gonna wanna see you!”

“Who?” Cora asked.

“The ones in charge, of course. There’s so much you need to know.” The man turned, his light bobbing as he began to wind through the crates around them. “Come on, I’ll show you!”

“That won’t be necessary. I can take it from here.” The unfamiliar voice belonged to a turian. He was standing at the top of a flight of stairs as they emerged from the maze of crates. He was tall, his face bare of any clan markings, but he carried himself with a quiet authority. The worker who’d been leading them nodded immediately.

“Of course.” He started backing into the crates again, glancing once more at Kit. “Thank you,” he whispered before vanishing into the crates once more.

She shivered. “I really hope everyone isn’t that creepy about the whole Pathfinder thing,” she said.

“They won’t be,” the turian said. He descended the stairs, offering a hand for her to shake. “Tiran Kandros, Nexus Security. I’ve gotta tell you, it’s a relief to see that an Ark actually survived this long.”

Kit shook his hand, the hard talons of his hand cool under her fingers. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kit Ryder… Pathfinder, I guess.”

If turians had eyebrows, she imagined he would’ve raised one. “You guess?”

“Alec Ryder was our Pathfinder,” Cora explained. “He died on Habitat 7.”

“Still can’t believe that’s supposed to be our paradise world,” Liam said, shaking his head.

Tiran surveyed them, then nodded. “Well, welcome to Andromeda. You obviously know by now that it’s not exactly what we were expecting. I hate to rush you along, considering everything you’ve already been through, but the others will want to talk to you.”

“Who are the others?” Kit asked.

Tiran had already turned away, climbing the stairs, leading them through the darkness. “The ones who help keep this place running. As best we can, anyway. It’s been rough. Nothing’s gone as planned, but they can explain it better than I can.”

They reached a door and with the push of a button, a shuttle arrived. They climbed aboard, taking their seats as Tiran selected their destination.

The shuttle took off, gliding smoothly along its track. One of the lights was flickering, and inside the shuttle, everyone was silent. Over a speaker came the faint sound of bland, toneless music.

Kit started laughing.

“What?” Liam asked, peering at her curiously.

She giggled, shaking her head. “We’re millions of light-years away from home and the elevator music still sucks.”

Cora was actually smiling, albeit somewhat grudgingly. “Some things will never change.”


	5. You, young and fit, will falter too

Kit slumped against the wall next to Liam. “So, how about that beer now?” She asked, shooting him a hopeful grin.

He laughed. “That bad, huh?”

She groaned aloud, massaging a cramp out of her neck. “I just spent three hours getting chewed out by a bunch of desperate politicians. It’d be easier if they’d just lined up and sucker punched me.”

That wasn’t entirely fair, she’d admit that. Kesh was fine, and Tiran seemed amicable enough - as long as she kept the militia’s needs in mind, she guessed. But really, she was only being a little bit dramatic.

“I honestly didn’t know there were so many ways to tell someone how incompetent and unprepared they are,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout that was more than a little petulant. “And then I met Addison and I sure know now.”

“What’s her problem with you?” Liam asked. He had a datapad in one hand and he was idly scanning through it as they spoke. They were in the militia headquarters, standing far enough away from Tiran’s command console that they weren’t in the way of people rushing back and forth.

Kit shrugged, rolling her eyes. “I’m not my dad,” she replied simply. “I’m too young, I’m an idealist, the list goes on. You name it, she’s probably got a problem with it.”

“Give her time,” Liam said, trying to placate her. “Once things start looking up, I’ll bet she’s nicer.”

“Ooh, don’t say that in earshot of her.” Kit said, lowering her voice dramatically. “She’ll think you’re an optimist and you’ll be stuck listening to her rant about how there’s no room for hope in Andromeda, not with chaos and death and hellfire raining down around us!”

Liam frowned, alarmed. “Did she actually say that?”

Kit flushed, crossing her arms over her chest with a shrug. “Well, no. Not exactly. But she might as well have! Honestly though, she might be better than Tann. He was all, ‘We have the same goals, Pathfinder,’ and ‘There’ll be great opportunities for you if we work together, Pathfinder.’ He’s slimy.”

“He’s a politician,” Liam pointed out dryly.

Kit rolled her eyes and nodded, running a hand through her hair. She was tired, more tired than she could remember being in a long time. Mostly, she just wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep. Ship her back to the Milky Way, she could use another six hundred year nap.

She took a deep breath and straightened up, jerking her chin at the datapad in Liam’s hand. “How’s the militia doing? Any pressing crises we need to avert?”

He shook his head. “Seems like we’d be the best help by just getting out there, trying to stabilize things. The militia’s spread thin, but they can handle things here on the Nexus. Anything that comes after the revolt is probably a cake walk to these guys.”

“Yeah. Wish we’d gotten here sooner,” Kit said. Her tone dropped, a seriousness there that she usually kept well-hidden. The Nexus was functioning, but even now, months after the revolt, it was in disarray. “This is all too much for them to deal with, they need more people. But they can’t wake people up without supplies to keep them alive, and they can’t get supplies without outposts. It’s on us to keep people alive now.”

Liam looked at her, his dark eyes quick, perceptive. “We can do it,” he said with conviction.

She sighed. “Even if we can’t, we have to try. Someone has to.”

They both were quiet for a minute. The Nexus was bustling around them, reinvigorated with infectious energy upon their arrival. But for a moment, Liam and Kit were still, removed from it all, allowed, for however brief a time, to rest.

Finally, Liam broached the silence, and the spell was broken. “You seem better,” he said, lowering his voice enough that passerby couldn’t hear. “Not okay, but better. Like maybe this whole Pathfinder thing won’t be so bad?”

Kit scuffed the toe of her boot against the floor, not quite meeting his gaze. “I guess. I feel like I don’t have time to think, you know? Or feel. It’s not like there are a bunch of other Pathfinders wandering around to help save the Initiative…” she paused, hugging her arms tighter around herself. “… This is all just so fucked. And we’re expected to swoop in and, what, just fix everything? It’s terrifying. I feel like someone chucked me in the deep end without teaching me how to swim.”

Liam chuckled and she frowned at him, brow furrowed in confusion. He shook his head quickly, raising a hand in reassurance. “No, it’s just… I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels way in over my head. No one was prepared for this shit. It’s pretty fucking scary, all these people looking at us for help.”

Her frown faded as she nodded. Then, with a smirk, she looked up at him again and said, “Isn’t helping people what you’re supposed to be good at, Mr. Crisis Response?”

“Now who’s poking around in personnel files?” He chuckled, his grin easy and warm.

“Can’t let you have the advantage, can I?” She pushed away from the wall with a smug look. She made to leave, then, mid-stride, she paused, half-turning back to him. “Cora’s dealing with the suits, they’re setting us up with a ship, I guess. Meet up at the docking bay in thirty?”

He nodded an affirmative, smiling a little as he watched her spin back around, disappearing into the crowd with a jaunty wave over her shoulder.

She made her way to the Nexus shuttle, weaving through the people walking to and fro. Everyone was absorbed in their duties, moving with an intent, a purpose. Some people stared at her as she passed, the ones who had already heard. They knew who she was; some of them even whispered behind their hands, eyes following her as she walked. It made her uncomfortable. She didn’t like being the center of attention unless she intended to be, and at that moment she wanted nothing more than to be another faceless member of the crowd.

It would’ve been easier to hide if the Nexus had still been dark, but after connecting the Hyperion’s power to the station, everything was brightly lit. Shield doors had slid open over all the windows, exposing the beautiful vista of space beyond. The station itself was cool, stark white and metal, with tall ceilings and sterile lighting that made Kit’s eyes hurt. It had obviously been designed with efficiency and professionalism in mind; fitting, given that it was intended to become the seat of government in Andromeda.

But the signs of unrest still lingered; there were scorch marks on a few walls she passed, and people’s faces were too thin, their eyes dark with hunger and desperation. It was haunting, unnerving. Andromeda had already been difficult and they hadn’t even been there a full day, she couldn’t imagine how difficult it had been for the people on the Nexus.

They’d exiled their own people, she thought that said enough.

When the shuttle door finally came into view she nearly broke out into a run, the weight of too many eyes on her back. Cora was already waiting by the shuttle. She looked up when Kit approached.

“You okay?” She asked, frowning in concern.

“Everyone’s staring,” Kit said, making an unhappy face. “It’s like I have ‘I’m the most unqualified Pathfinder in Andromeda, stare at me,’ tattooed on my forehead.”

Cora glanced behind Kit and shook her head. “No one’s staring, don’t worry.”

Kit shot her a skeptical look and risked a look over her shoulder. A few nearby people jumped, quickly looking away. Kit turned back to glare at Cora, who shrugged helplessly.

“You weren’t supposed to look,” she said.

Kit groaned quietly. “I feel like everyone’s waiting for me to screw up, like they’re sitting there with popcorn waiting for me to crash and burn.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Cora said. “These people have survived a lot, give them more credit.”

The shuttle arrived with a soft whoosh and the door slid open. They climbed aboard and Kit fiddled with the navigation interface, selecting the docking bay. The door shut behind them and the shuttle took off, rushing through dark tunnels.

They fell into an awkward silence; Cora had her arms folded behind her back and she was staring intently at a spot on the floor. Kit shuffled her feet, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes flickered to Cora, then quickly away, then back again.

Finally, she cleared her throat. “Hey, uh, I never got to say this before, but I’m sorry.”

Cora looked up, meeting her gaze. “For what?” She asked, frowning.

Kit waved a hand vaguely, feeling an embarrassed flush creep up her cheeks. “You know, everything. For my dad. And for sort of stealing your job. You were Dad’s second, you should’ve been made Pathfinder, not me. So… I’m sorry.”

Cora blinked a few times, processing, before she nodded. She looked like she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “… Thank you. It’s not your fault, though. It’s not like you wanted to be Pathfinder, that was your father’s choice. I just-” She stopped herself, closing her mouth abruptly. Her jaw tightened over whatever she wanted to say, a flash of frustration in her eyes. “I just hope he made the right choice.”

Kit swallowed and Cora broke eye contact, turning toward the door as the shuttle slowed, coming to a stop at the docking bay. Kit followed her out of the shuttle when the door opened, feeling peculiarly cowed by Cora’s words.

She didn’t want to care about what Cora thought. She’d always tried not to let other people’s opinions define her; when the little girls on Earth had sneered at her, called her “spaceborn” and “drifter” she’d held her chin high and endured it. Their opinions hadn’t mattered. Cora wasn’t a schoolyard bully, but when Kit looked at her she saw another in a long line of people telling her, _“You are this way, and that is bad. You should be different. You should be better.”_

She didn’t want to care, but it still hurt more than she wanted to admit. She trudged along behind Cora, eyes on the ground, withdrawn in her own thoughts. It was only when she bumped into Cora that she looked up.

Before her, sitting on a docking platform, was a ship. It was beautiful, small and sleek, gleaming in artificial, golden sunlight. Kit had been on ships before, hell, she’d technically been born on one, but this was a new class of ship, the likes of which she’d never before seen in-person.

“Wow,” she breathed, leaning against the railing at the edge of the balcony above the docking platform. There were people hauling cargo onto the ship, disappearing up the loading ramp before reappearing a few minutes later. The ship looked alive, bustling with activity. She grinned, and it felt like the first real, true smile since they’d arrived in Andromeda.

“They call it the Tempest,” Cora said. She wasn’t quite smiling, but there was a something in her eyes, something like pride, maybe even hope.

“It’s gorgeous.”

Cora nodded. “They’re giving us the best they’ve got, apparently.”

“What kind of engine is it running?” Kit asked. She was smiling, looking at the Tempest with stars in her eyes.

Cora blinked, then shrugged. “I’m not sure, they didn’t say.” She regarded Kit with mild curiosity. “I didn’t take you for a mechanic.”

Kit straightened up, planting her hands on her hips. She fixed Cora with a smug grin. “I’m full of surprises. But I’m not really a mechanic,” she added quickly, setting off toward the docking platform as she spoke. Cora followed with a bemused expression. “My brother is. I just like taking things apart, figuring out how they work. Sorta runs in the family, I think.”

They descended the ramp that lead to the docking platform. As they approached, Kit realized just how big the Tempest actually was. Compared to the Hyperion and especially the Nexus, it was small, but she felt tiny standing under the shadow of its bow.

A female turian greeted them at the bottom of the Tempest’s loading ramp. Kit peered up to look at her; the woman towered over her, lanky the way most turians were. Her mandibles were flared more than most turians Kit had seen, and her clan markings were unfamiliar; she gave them the turian equivalent of a grin as they approached.

“Hey, Pathfinder,” she greeted them. “I’m Vetra Nyx.”

“Kit Ryder.” Kit sized her up, head cocked to one side. “So what do you do?” She asked.

Vetra chuckled. “Whatever you need me to. Within reason, of course. I’m sort of your resident Jack of all trades; I know everyone, I know everything, and if I don’t have something then I know how to get it.”

“Sounds like you’re a useful woman to keep around.” Kit grinned.

“Smart people usually think so,” Vetra said. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

They started up the ramp before someone interrupted them, clearing their throat loudly. They paused and Kit glanced back, curious. There was a man standing at the bottom of the ramp with a datapad in hand and a harried expression on his face; his Initiative uniform marked him as a member of the Operations team.

Vetra caught sight of him and muttered, “Ah, shit,” under her breath. “Gimme a second, I’ll deal with it.”

She trotted back down the loading ramp, grabbing the man’s shoulder and spinning him around easily. She started talking quietly as she lead him away from the ship.

Kit glanced at Cora and shrugged when the other woman returned her gaze with raised eyebrows. “I didn’t do anything,” she said quickly. “I mean, Addison was pissed but I’m pretty sure I didn’t break any rules.”

Cora looked unimpressed. “Why do you automatically assume you’re in trouble when someone wants to talk to you?” Her voice was dry.

Kit scoffed, brushing off the comment unconvincingly. “I don’t do that,” she lied. “Not every time.”

“Uh huh,” was all Cora said.

Kit frowned, but her expression cleared as Vetra turned and rejoined them. The man wandered off, apparently placated.

“What was that about?” She asked Vetra.

The turian passed her, waving her hand vaguely. “Nothing important. So, how about that grand tour?”

Cora didn’t look convinced, but Kit just shrugged at her and moved to follow Vetra. “I like her,” she whispered to Cora over her shoulder.

“You just met her!” Cora followed her up the ramp. “How can you decide that fast?”

“Anyone who gets me out of trouble with Addison is cool in my book,” Kit said offhandedly. Vetra chuckled as they ducked into the hangar bay of the Tempest. There were still Initiative workers wandering back and forth, storing supplies with quiet efficiency.

“We’ll be ready to go in an hour,” Vetra was saying, but Kit was only half paying attention. She was exploring with interest, poking her head into every room they passed.

“And you’re coming with us?” She asked.

Vetra nodded. “Yeah. Hope that’s not a problem,” she said, glancing at Cora.

Kit brushed off her concern. “Nope, no problem. Glad to have you!” Cora shot her a sour expression that Kit chose to ignore. “The more the merrier!”

Vetra grinned, her mandibles flaring. “Looking forward to working with you, Pathfinder.”

“Same,” Kit said, offering Vetra her hand. She took it, shaking hands with an ease that spoke of long association with humans. “Oh, by the way, what kind of engine does this thing have?”

Cora sighed heavily.


	6. At the end of my suffering there was a door

**1 Day Later**

Kit sat on the top of the Nomad, kicking her feet against the tall tires. Her helmet was beside her, her hair half-falling out of the ponytail at the back of her head. She was sweaty, squinting in the burning sun above her, but she was smiling, gazing out at a wide canyon that dropped before her.

The gold-brown landscape stretched on until it was swallowed by the horizon, a massive swath of rocky mountains. Flat pillars of earth climbed out of the sandy, broken ground. The wind gusted occasionally, rustling the native flora that was growing out of a nearby cluster of rocks.

“It’s no ocean paradise,” she said. “But I like it.”

Liam’s head appeared from within the Nomad. He followed her gaze to the vista in front of them. “Reminds me of those old Western vids,” he said. “You know, cowboys and aliens, giant sand worms, all the good stuff.”

She glanced over at him and her smile turned teasing. “Aw, Kosta, did you grow up wanting to be a cowboy?”

He snorted. “Nah. The hats look terrible on me.”

She laughed. Vetra glanced over at them from the nearby forward station, then, deciding that they were fine, returned to her work. They’d landed on Eos six hours ago, by Kit’s count. From the very start, things were bad. The outpost where they’d landed was abandoned, and the second outpost had been ripped apart by a giant, terrifying creature.

Even thinking about that fight made Kit nervous; there’d been too many close calls, moments when the creature’s hand swiped too close. She hadn’t planned on being turned into Pathfinder paste on the ground somewhere thanks to an angry monster, and she was distinctly displeased that it was now a real possibility.

Then there were the kett, and they were everywhere. Even now, she watched as one of their dropships hovered in the distance, depositing a kett patrol in the desert. They’d probably have to kill them later. It was a nuisance, and most of their time so far had been dedicated to fighting through them to get anywhere.

Not that they really had any idea where they were going in the first place. Eos was a vast, irradiated desert, littered in strange black ruins, like the ones they’d found on Habitat 7. They’d tried approaching a few so far, but any time they got too close, the robot guardians would attack.

Kit and Liam had encountered a similar robot on Habitat 7, in the kett research base. The ones on Eos were larger, hovering in the air and minding their own business until their scanners picked up signs of life. Then, they went berserk. The last time they’d tried to sneak up on them, Kit had gotten her upper arm singed as a result; the robots fought with some kind of advanced beam weaponry, and she’d gotten complacent while lining up a shot. The beam had burned through her shield and luckily Vetra had called out a warning just in time for Kit to duck, so the beam only burned her arm, rather than anything vital, like her head.

“Did you do a lot of fighting, back in crisis response?” She asked suddenly, looking over at Liam.

He shrugged. “Some. We went in after most of the fighting had stopped or moved on, but in situations like that tensions run high. Sometimes people got angry, started shooting. But not like this,” he added, nodding toward the kett dropship as it lifted off and sailed toward the horizon.

She watched it go. “Yeah, I went through Alliance basic training, and we had a couple run-ins with batarian slavers when I was with my research team, but it wasn’t a normal thing. I’ve never had to use a gun like I’ve had to here. Before, those situations were life-and-death, but this is different, you know? Feels like the stakes are higher.”

He nodded, clambering out of the Nomad to join her. He sat down beside her, squinting into the blazing sunlight.

“It’s hot as hell here,” he complained, tugging at the collar of his armor.

“London Boy can’t handle the heat, huh?” She teased, giggling when he nodded emphatically.

“Damn right, London Boy can’t handle it,” he said, laughing. “Have you ever been to England? When the sun comes out people panic, there are car accidents, businesses shut down, it’s anarchy.”

Her giggles turned into an outright laugh. “I actually lived in London for a bit,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she thought for a moment. “For a year or so, I think?”

“Yeah?” He turned more toward her, curious. “What for?”

Her smile slipped slightly and she hesitated, eyes dropping. “My Mom grew up there. When she got really sick, Dad moved us back. I grew up on the Citadel, though. So all this -” she waved a hand, indicated the planet around them, “- is pretty amazing to me. I haven’t spent a lot of time in places with actual weather. Or wind.”

Liam smiled softly, looking out over the desert. “It’s funny, when I was a kid I used to stare up at space, wishing I could leave and explore the stars. And you were out there, probably staring right back, wishing you were there.”

She was quiet for a moment, looking at him. He turned, catching her eyes, and he was outlined in gold by the setting sun. She smiled, suddenly shy, uncertain. “I guess we both got what we wished for?”

He returned her smile, nodding. “Yeah, we did.”

**2 Days Later**

Mornings on the Tempest quickly achieved a kind of routine that rivaled any other sense of normalcy on the ship. Which, all things considered, wasn’t hard to do.

Kit stumbled out of bed, bleary-eyed. SAM greeted her with an inordinately cheerful, “Good morning,” and she waved a hand to silence him, groaning aloud.

“I do not detect any trace elements of alcohol in your system,” SAM said. “Do you feel okay, Kit?”

She groaned again, resting her head in her hands. “I hate mornings, SAM. Why?”

SAM paused. “I do not understand the question. Why what?”

“Why?” she repeated as she stood up, fishing a t-shirt from the pile of clothing at the foot of her bed. She pulled it on and it fell nearly to her knees. The first thing she’d done when the Tempest had left the Nexus was go digging through the crates of Initiative-issued clothing. She’d found the biggest shirt they had and had claimed it for herself.

She tugged on a pair of pants, and after running a hand through her messy hair, she left.

It was either phenomenal good luck or fantastic foresight that the kitchen was about five feet from her room, because walking any farther would just be unnecessary, in her opinion. The door was open already, the cramped space even more crowded with the early risers on the crew.

Suvi was sipping from a coffee cup, a half-eaten ration forgotten on the table in front of her and a datapad in her hand. Vetra was leaning against the counter, one hand buried in a box of dextro cereal. She grinned at Kit as she walked in.

“Morning, sunshine,” she quipped.

Kit mumbled something that might have been a curse word under her breath. She collapsed onto the bench next to Liam, who grinned at her from around the spoon in his mouth. With a sigh, Kit laid her head down on the cool surface of the kitchen table, closing her eyes.

“Pathfinder, is something wrong?” Suvi asked, looking up from her datapad, very concerned.

Vetra snorted. “I don’t think Ryder’s a morning person. Suvi, you should tell her about that paper you wrote on dirt.”

“Oooh, yes!” Suvi’s eyes lit up. “Oh, it’s so interesting!”

Kit looked up and glared at Vetra as she laughed. “You are not invited to any of my Pathfinder parties,” she muttered, eyes narrowed at the turian woman.

“Joke’s on you, Ryder I won’t get you access to the Nexus’ booze if I’m not invited,” Vetra said, shoving a handful of cereal in her mouth with a smug expression.

Kit grumbled, laying her head back down on the table. “Shit,” she muttered. “You win.”

Vetra chuckled and turned to Suvi to ask her something. Kit stopped paying attention, turning her head until her cheek was pressed to the table. She looked up at Liam and gave him a sleepy smile.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, yourself. Trouble sleeping?” He asked. It was an innocent question, but after everything they’d gone through over the past few days, it felt heavier.

“Yeah,” she admitted. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before resting her chin on one hand to look at him. “Do you ever just lay in bed thinking about everything you’ve ever done wrong in your life? And coming up with a million ways you could’ve done it differently?”

Liam shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, silence falling between them as he chewed. He swallowed and said, “I try not to. Used to do it a lot, back when I was a cop.”

“How’d you get it to stop?” She asked. He looked at her, gaze lingering on the dark shadows under her eyes.

“I didn’t. I tried a lot to just sleep, but nothing worked. So I eventually gave up, figured if my body doesn’t wanna sleep, I can’t make it. So I’d get up, do things. Finally you’ll be so tired that you’ll just pass out, even if your brain still thinks it doesn’t want to.”

“I guess that’s better than laying in bed staring at the ceiling for hours,” Kit said, frowning thoughtfully.

“Friends help,” he said. “It’s always easier when you have someone to talk to.”

Her frown eased into a playful smile. “Are we friends, Kosta? We barely know each other. Didn’t your parents ever tell you to be careful around strangers?”

He grinned and scooped the last of his cereal into his mouth. “Yeah, but I was always a bad listener,” he said, mouth full.

Vetra piped up from where she stood, still digging around in the bag of cereal. “Hey, Ryder, mind if I hang back on the Tempest today? I’ve gotta check up with a couple contacts back on the Nexus.”

Kit stood up, pouring herself a generous cup of coffee. She sipped it as she nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks.” Vetra clapped a friendly hand on her should as she passed. “Take Cora driving in the Nomad. She’ll love it.”

Kit clicked her tongue, calling after Vetra as she turned the corner out of the kitchen. “Honestly, I’m not that bad! There are a lot of hills, okay? You try driving next time and see how you do!” She raised her voice as Vetra retreated down the hallway, and Kit could hear her laughing in the distance.

She huffed, bottom lip jutting in an overdramatic pout. “It’s not that bad, is it?” She asked Liam. He stood up and busied himself with washing his bowl in the kitchen sink, deliberately avoiding meeting her eyes. She smacked him on the shoulder lightly. “Hey!”

He cracked, breaking into a smile. “Okay, okay, you’re not that bad!” He relented with a laugh, holding up his hands to ward her off. “It’s nice to know that the kett aren’t the only thing out here that might kill us. Helps keep perspective, you know?”

She glared at him over the rim of her coffee cup. He met her gaze, brown eyes twinkling, the picture of innocence.

“I see how it is, Kosta,” she muttered into her coffee, eyes narrowed. “I get it. That’s fine. I understand.” She grumbled something under her breath and Liam started snickering quietly, slipping past her toward the door.

“Do you know where Cora is?” She asked as they stepped into the hallway, dropping her expression of mock outrage. She wrapped her hands around her coffee cup, cradling it lovingly.

“I think she set up shop in the research room?” Liam replied. He turned to go, crossing the hallway to the crew bathrooms. The door opened and he reached up to yank off his shirt, giving her a wave as he did so. “See you groundside, Ryder.”

She nodded, sipping her coffee, watching him go. _‘Note to self, it’s very important in this new galaxy to always take time to admire the view,’_ she thought, grinning to herself. The bathroom door closed behind Liam and, with a little sigh of disappointment, Kit turned to go.

An hour later, she was back on Eos, boots on the dry ground. She took a deep breath, then coughed.

“Nothing like the smell of radiation in the morning,” she choked out.

Cora frowned at her. “Ryder, are you okay?”

“I’m good.” Kit shot her a thumbs up, taking another deep breath as her coughing subsided. “You okay, Cora? Were your… whatever you were doing earlier good?”

“Asari battle meditations,” Cora said. She sounded less than thrilled about being there, and was frowning at the canyons around them with suspicion.

“Right. Asari battle meditations. Were they good?” Kit asked. She fiddled with the pistol at her hip, waiting expectantly for a response.

Cora looked slightly perplexed. “They were fine. They’re battle meditations.”

Kit peered at her. “I mean, you enjoy them, right? That’s why you do them?”

“I do them because they help center me, prepare me for the day.”

“So you don’t enjoy them?” She asked, frowning.

“I do,” Cora said, then sighed, rubbing her forehead. “They were good.”

Kit perked up, smiling. “Good!” She turned around to face Liam, who was leaning against the Nomad, watching with a shit-eating grin. “Help me,” she mouthed to him silently.

He tried unsuccessfully to disguise his laughter as a cough. “That was a great conversation,” he said quietly. “You’ve got great natural charm, Ryder. Really, just, so good at talking to people.”

She shook her head, shrugging helplessly. “Why is it so hard to talk to her? She’s so serious,” she whispered, looking up at him with a hopeless expression. “She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” he said, patting her on the shoulder comfortingly. “Probably,” he added.

Kit made a sad, whiny noise as she clambered into the Nomad. “Come on, let’s just go shoot things. I’m better at that.”

Liam snorted and climbed into the Nomad, settling in the seat behind Kit. Cora circled around to the opposite side, taking the passenger seat next to her. As the doors closed, Kit grabbed the steering wheel, rolling her shoulders with a grin.

“Ready, kids?” She asked, craning her neck to look back at Liam, who was quickly pulling on his safety harness.

Cora narrowed her eyes at them, but said nothing as she followed suit after Liam, clicking the safety harness into place. Kit winked at her on impulse and Cora suddenly looked very concerned as Kit revved the Nomad’s engine. As she opened her mouth to speak, the Nomad took off in a rush of sudden movement and a haze of dust.

Kit let out a whoop of excitement as they flew over the surface of Eos, rolling over boulders as if they weren’t even there. Cora’s mouth snapped shut and she sat there with white-knuckled hands on the dashboard, bracing herself against her seat as if her life depended on it.

They crested a tall hill, barreling toward the strange black ruins ahead of them at full speed. For a moment, Kit could leave behind the cloud that seemed to follow her around, abandoning the weight of insecurity and doubt behind her in the dirt. For that moment, she almost felt hopeful.


End file.
